EPCSO K-9 “XILLI”/LEADS SEARCH & RESCUE TEAM MEMBERS TO FLEEING SUBJECT IN MOCK SCENARIO
| Contact: Deputy Angelica Becerra / PUBLIC AFFAIRS
3850 Justice Dr., El Paso, TX 79938 Direct: (915) 538-2119 Pager: (915) 533-0733 (#5237) Release Date / Time: Wednesday, JULY 13, 2011 5:50 PM |
 |
NEWS RELEASE
EL PASO, TX- On JUNE 28, 2011 between 9:30 pm and 12:00 am, a mock exercise/scenario involving specialized units was scheduled at Cielo Vista Mall, 8401 Gateway West, El Paso, TX. With businesses and neighborly communities expanding into the outskirts of El Paso County, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office selected Cielo Vista Mall as the site to expose and prepare specialized units to better handle critical incident calls should they ever arise in the expanding areas of El Paso County.
The exercise measured each units abilities to adapt to a new environment and to test their knowledge attained through their perspective expertise and formal training for real life situations. The Sheriff’s Office Crisis Negotiation Team, Special Weapons and Tactics Team and the Search and Rescue Team took part in the exercise.
In this most recent scenario, Deputy Azcarate and “Xilli” (pronounced Zilli), a three year old female German Shepherd, also took part in the exercise. In this exercise K-9 Xilli” was introduced to a fleeing subject’s human scent using a jersey that was left behind. The K-9 tracked on a hard surface from the start. After tracking for an hour, she demonstrated signs of on-trail behavior near the intersection of Sunmount Dr. and Viscount Blvd., El Paso,TX. “Xilli” then lead Search and Rescue Team Members directly to Ponder Park where the fleeing subject was present.
K-9 “Xilli” was rewarded for an outstanding job and tracking abilities in such difficult hard surfaces.
Deputy Azcarate and “Xilli” completed training at the Canine Center of El Paso (CCEP) located in Fort Bliss,TX on March 25, 2011. The K-9 as demonstrated good track behavior and keen scene for alerting to human scent in open field searches.
She has been on a few call outs since the completion of her training and has participated in at least two mock scenarios.
The duo/team is required to complete at least 16 hours of maintenance training every month in order to keep their certification and have to re-certify once every year.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF EPCSO
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank all who made this training possible.